Hobart or Queenstown?

Neither city is a place to plan swimming around, but Hobart offers more. It has proper sand at Long Beach, Kingston Beach and Seven Mile Beach, and the sheltered estuary is calm enough for a brisk sea swim on a warm day.

Queenstown has no sea at all. Its snowmelt lake stays colder still, so swimming means a quick plunge off the jetty or from the small shingle beach. Lake Hayes and Moke Lake are the gentler option in midsummer.

Hobart eats better and more distinctively. Its food comes from the island itself: oysters and mussels from the channel, salmon, scallop pies, midland lamb, Salamanca Market and the fish punts at Constitution Dock. Coal River Valley pinot, sparkling wine and single malt whisky round it out.

Queenstown has more casual choice than its size suggests, from burger counters and pie shops to lodge-style dining, but nothing you could call a local cuisine. Its strength is the Gibbston Valley cellar doors, where a long lunch among the vines is the best meal of the trip.

There is a wide gap here. Hobart is Australia's second-oldest city. It has Salamanca's 1830s warehouses, Battery Point's cottages, the Cascades Female Factory and the state museum's convict and Antarctic galleries, and MONA is reason enough to come on its own. Two or three days are well spent.

Queenstown was built for the scenery around it. The 1912 TSS Earnslaw and a few gold-rush stone buildings fill a morning, and the gold-rush story is told better in Arrowtown than in town.

Queenstown has the livelier nights. Seasonal workers, backpackers and skiers keep the dance bars around Shotover and Camp streets going past midnight, especially on winter weekends, and it suits groups in their twenties.

Hobart's evenings are quieter and more grown-up: wine and whisky bars along Salamanca Place and pubs on Elizabeth Street in North Hobart. Outside weekends and the New Year yacht season, it winds down early.

Both are outstanding, but Queenstown is in a class of its own. The Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu start at the edge of town, the Routeburn Track and Mount Aspiring are a drive away, and this is where commercial bungy began at the Kawarau Bridge. Paragliding, canyon swings and winter skiing are all close by.

Hobart's outdoors are wild in their own way. kunanyi/Mount Wellington and its Organ Pipes rise behind the city, the Tasman Peninsula has its huge sea cliffs, and Bruny Island has penguins. The appeal is coast and forest rather than alpine adventure.

Hobart has the stronger and more varied excursions. Port Arthur's convict ruins are a day out of real historical weight, Georgian Richmond is half an hour away, and the Huon Valley orchards, Bruny Island and the midland towns of Ross and Oatlands add variety.

Queenstown has charming Arrowtown, Wanaka over the Crown Range and the wine country around Cromwell, but the list thins quickly after that. Milford Sound is magnificent, but it means three to four hours on the road each way.

Both are safe, small and easy with children, but the days look different. In Hobart, the highlights are wildlife sanctuaries with Tasmanian devils and wombats, the museum's natural history galleries and running around the open grounds of Port Arthur.

Queenstown's family days are more active: the gondola and luge, jet boats, the lake steamer and ski schools in winter. The adventure activities it is famous for have age and weight limits that leave younger children out.

Both centres are walkable and both make a car close to essential beyond town. Hobart's waterfront, CBD and Battery Point sit close together on steep streets, and there is a pleasant ferry up the river to MONA.

Queenstown's centre is flatter and even smaller, and buses and a water taxi reach Frankton and Arrowtown. Its single road into town gets congested at busy times, and winter mountain driving can call for chains.

Salamanca Market is the best browsing in either place. On Saturdays its stalls fill the sandstone waterfront with woodwork, knitwear, ceramics and jewellery, and through the week the warehouse galleries sell Huon pine, Tasmanian glass and local art. A few independent fashion and homeware shops in North Hobart and Sandy Bay add a little variety.

Queenstown's Mall is mostly for kitting out an adventure. It has specialist ski, bike and hiking shops, merino and possum-wool knitwear, greenstone jewellery and plenty of souvenirs. Apart from a summer craft market by the wharf, there is little to browse beyond that.

Hobart is the cheaper stay of the two, though neither is cheap. Meals, wine and coffee carry Australian prices, and car hire and fuel are the main extra, since most visitors drive out to Port Arthur or Bruny Island. Self-catering with Tasmanian produce, market food, pub meals and the free trails on kunanyi/Mount Wellington keep the bill in check.

Queenstown costs more on almost every count. Rooms and meals carry resort prices, highest in the ski season and over Christmas. The activities that are the reason to come, from bungy jumps and jet boats to scenic flights and lift passes, add up quickly. Hostels, apartments with kitchens and the Frankton supermarkets help, but it is a trip to budget for carefully.

Hobart has a real if small stage life. The Theatre Royal's Georgian horseshoe auditorium has drama, comedy and touring shows, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra plays at the Federation Concert Hall, and the festivals linked to MONA bring experimental music and performance.

Queenstown has no orchestra, opera or theatre season. Live music mostly means a covers band in an après bar, with touring acts and the winter festival as occasional extras.

Neither has a bathing tradition, so relaxation depends on the pace each place sets. In Hobart, the quiet city itself is restful: waterfront mornings, long lunches and the Botanical Gardens, with countryside retreats for anything more.

Queenstown's best unwinding is a private cedar hot tub above the Shotover or a lodge spa after skiing. Its centre is built around adrenaline, so a calm stay means sleeping out towards Arrowtown or Glenorchy.